…in the hopes that this time, it’ll be different. The ‘Benjamin Button’ reference made by Ronald Brownstein below is in reference to the GOP’s policy agenda, which is pretty explicitly to reverse all of the catastrophic features of President Obama’s policy agenda: the conceit is that we’re going to have the same debates over again. And Brownstein reports that this is just fine with the White House, for some reason:
…early indications are that the White House also sees these Benjamin Button debates as a chance to take the offense for 2012—and to launch a renewed and reframed effort to contrast Obama’s vision of government’s role with that of the ascendant congressional Republicans. As David Axelrod, Obama’s chief White House political strategist, argued in a recent interview, 2010 unfolded largely as a referendum on Obama’s performance, but in 2012 “voters will be faced with a choice. And I view that as an opportunity.”
You know, there’s a meme called ‘framing’ which is very popular among my opposite numbers on the Left. It’s a viciously seductive concept that derives its power from telling liberals and progressives, essentially, that the ongoing rejection of their pet policy positions by the public is due primarily because they simply haven’t found the right rhetorical angle with which to present their case. I love framing. I want to meet the person who managed to infect enough Democrats with this meme to reach the critical threshold of delusion, and send him/her a fruit basket. Framing has done more for the GOP than anything else that I can think of, and stories like the above is why. Continue reading White House to try the same thing again…